Radio personality John "Trapper John" Colombo said he is running for Mercer County commissioner. In a prepared news release, Colombo said he was committed to fiscal responsibility and a business approach to running county government.

"After much soul searching, I have decided to throw my had into the ring. For some time now, I've not been happy with the way the county is being run, nor the direction we seem to be moving in," Colombo said.

Colombo, a Republican, stressed that he is not a politician.

"I have no political background," he said. "However, I do have experience in the business world, having spent most of my life either running my own or someone else's business. For the past 14 years, I've been doing radio call in shows where I try to help people solve some of their problems. People have come to know they can depend on me. I don't waver and you'll always get a straight answer even when I have to say, 'I don't know.' "

Colombo appears on radio stations in the area offering advice on gardening and pest control problems.

Colombo said he would not focus on finding new revenues and attracting new businesses to the county.

"While that is important," he said, "I'll promise to find ways to cut the ridiculous free spending that has gone on in the past. I'll look for ways to make every dollar spent return a dollar or more back to the county taxpayers. Certainly, we want more business in the county, but I won't let your hard-earned tax dollars slip through our fingers like water."

Government, he said, should be run like a business.

"Every CEO is responsible to his stockholders, and he must try to increase their dividends," he said. "The commissioners are the CEOs of Mercer County, and today, I can't see any dividends for the tax payers."

Colombo lives with his wife Audrey in Shenango Township.